Saints perform well against the
Giants

St Helens coach Ian Millward was a relieved man after his side battled bravely to record a hard-fought 34-24 Engage Super League victory against Huddersfield at Knowsley Road.

Saints skipper Paul Sculthorpe reached the magical 1,000 points milestone with two early goals before he was replaced after 19 minutes after sustaining a heavy knock in the tackle.

After Saints went in at the break with a 20-6 advantage, two Huddersfield tries in as many minutes shortly after the restart brought them back to 20-18 before Darren Albert?s quickfire brace restored Saints? advantage.

There was still time for Huddersfield to register again to make it 28-24, but Saints anxiously held on and a late effort from Great Britain full-back Paul Wellens finally sealed the points in fine style.

Millward said: ?There were plenty of tries, everyone got their money?s worth and I?m the happier coach because I?ve got the two points.?

The Saints chief also revealed he took Sculthorpe off as a precautionary measure after he suffered a knock to his leg during the early exchanges.

He added: ?I just thought we could get home without him aggravating the injury and that?s the reason I didn?t put him back on.?

Huddersfield coach Jon Sharp was again left to rue the cost of another lethargic start from his side - and believes their second-half fightback should have seen them emerge victorious.

He said: ?Going 16-0 down after 10 minutes, we made it tough for ourselves.

?You can?t come to St Helens and give Saints a 16-point start, but this side has got some character and we got it back to 28-24.

?We just need to fix our starts up, because we were slow out of the blocks against Hull last week and again this week. But we should have won it in the end.?